Q and A with Susan Stuart
By Scott Bondy

In 1995, Susan Stuart had a tough assignment. She was hired as head coach of the Colorado College women’s lacrosse team, a team that was non-existent. Lacrosse wasn’t what it is now in the state of Colorado. She came from the east coast, a region known for its lacrosse roots, and aimed to advance the sports progress and popularity. Expectations were pretty low considering it would be CC’s first year competing at the intercollegiate level.

They went 4-6 in their inaugural season but since then they’ve really held their own. Since that first season the Tigers have strung 11 consecutive winning seasons together including six NCAA tournament berths. In just their third year, 1998, they compiled a 12-4 record, one that to this day stands as the best single season winning percentage.
Much of the success can and should be given to Stuart because her love for the game has rubbed off on so many. She’s taken a program, which started with a bunch of soccer players, to Division III notoriety.

Q: What’s the biggest difference between women’s lacrosse at CC now and when it started 13 years ago?Really there’s just a lot more lacrosse in Colorado. Colorado Springs in particular. These last three or four years have seen a huge jump.

Q: How have you been able to have so much success?
In the early years we fielded our roster with a bunch of girls who had never played before. We just looked for athletic girls and asked them to come out for the team. There were a lot of soccer players. As the sport grew so did the number of girls that wanted to play. It’s easy to coach when you have talent.

Q: How have you seen the women’s game change?
Well, they’re always changing the rules on us. It seems like every year. The retaining lines, goggles, newer sticks.

Q: Do you think the popularity of the men’s sports helps the women’s?
I definitely think it does. Say you have a girl with a brother who plays. They see it and they want to compete too. There’s always some trickle down. Even having the Mammoth has been great. Lacrosse in general gets popularized on the men’s and women’s side. Gary Gait, when he was here, he did great things for both as well.

Q: What one thing would you tell people about lacrosse that were unfamiliar with the sport?
It’s a very fast game of athleticism.

Q: You played for team Canada recently. How has playing and coaching at the same time helped you?
It’s a great situation to play and coach. You can break things down as coach a coach which then helps you as a player. It definitely helps your game being able to do both.

Q: Tell us a little bit about your team this year.
We’re very young. We have nine freshmen. We’ve had a few close games this year but those should help us down the road. I think we can match up pretty well against anybody but we just have to work on our decision making.